


At the Curtains of the Waterfall

by kiyamahikari



Category: Free!
Genre: Childhood Memories, Gen, Waterfall
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-29
Updated: 2015-06-29
Packaged: 2018-04-09 04:06:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4333218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kiyamahikari/pseuds/kiyamahikari
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Haruka revisits the waterfall he encounters on a mountain hiking trip with his parents as a child. Inspired partly by the song Geronimo, especially its waterfall imagery.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Encounter

“Haruka, wake up!”

There was the sound of curtains being drawn. Haruka blinked in reaction to the light, even though it was not yet bright outside. He rubbed his eyes. “Mom?”

“Wake up. We’re going to the waterfall today, remember?” 

_Oh._ His eyes met the calendar that hung on the wall opposite him, right next to his desk. Today’s date had been circled with red colored pencil. _It’s today._

He had been counting down the days until his parents would take him on a hike to one of the mountains not far from Iwatobi town. There was a waterfall next to this mountain, so Haruka was looking forward to seeing it up close. There was nothing that he loved more than water. He loved how it felt against his skin, cool and refreshing.

He had taken a bath the night before, so he freshened up by brushing his teeth and washing his face. After having breakfast (his favorite, mackerel donburi with miso sauce) and checking that he had all that he needed for the overnight trip in his yellow backpack (a change of clothes, a pair of pajamas, a towel, drinks, etc.) with his mom, he bolted down the stairs and quickly put on his sneakers. 

“Look who’s here,” Haruka’s dad exclaimed. “All right, time to get going.”

The trip to the mountain did not take very long, but to Haruka, it felt like forever. He fiddled with the Nintendo DS his parents had given him for his tenth birthday not too long ago. They had also bought him a couple of games, but he had only brought one of them with him. Just as he was about to start another round of Pokémon Dash, the car stopped.

“We’re here,” Mom announced.

They were parked at a visitor’s site parking lot. Since it was the summer holidays, there were quite a lot of people - groups of high school and university students as well as families with children even younger than Haruka. He grabbed his backpack, which was beside him in the back seat, and leapt out of the car.

“When do we start hiking?” he asked as his parents, too, exited the car and made for the trunk. They stretched a little before putting on their own backpacks. 

“We’ll need a map first,” Dad replied, pointing to the visitor center a short walk away. 

They walked to the visitor center, picking up a pamphlet that included a map, emergency numbers, and more information about the mountain and the nearby waterfall. 

Dad withdrew a pen from one of his pockets and marked the trail leading up to the waterfall. “If we follow this trail, we’ll be there around one,” he said. Haruka checked his watch. It was just past 10 o’clock in the morning, but the sun was already beating down. Such was the vicious summer heat in late July.

The next three hours passed without much incident. Haruka’s parents made sure that he didn’t lag too far behind by having him walk between them. 

As they were approaching the waterfall, Mom and Dad let Haruka lead the way. His face brightened when he saw the majestic waterfall. It was probably only 60 feet tall, but to him it was all he could see. The sparkling water, subordinate to gravity, was reflected in his clear, widened eyes. “Wow.” He had never seen such a beautiful sight before. 

His parents came after him. Dad put a hand on his left shoulder. “Beautiful, isn’t it?” 

“Yeah,” he nodded. He would never forget that sight. “Hey, Dad, is it okay if I swim in it?”

“I don’t see any signs saying that people can’t swim here at this time,” Mom said, looking around. “Don’t take too long, okay? We’ll be having lunch soon.”

Haruka took off his red collared shirt and grey shorts, stripping down to his jammers, and lunged headfirst into the water. He was beside himself as he felt the cool water flush all the July heat from his skin. He swam to where the waterfall meets the river, and let the overflow wash over him. _This is how it feels to be at the curtains of the waterfall, huh._

Later that afternoon, they hiked up another trail that led to a plateau on the mountain, perfect for camping. Haruka slept soundly that night, dreaming of that waterfall.


	2. Return

_It’s been seven years since I went to that waterfall._

Haruka thought of going back to the place he went to with his parents. He wanted to look for answers: _What am I swimming for?_

The regional competition was to be held soon. He would be swimming in the medley relay with his Iwatobi High School swim club teammates - Makoto, Nagisa, and Rei - against the formidable Samezuka swim team, the lineup of which was yet unknown to him. _Rin would definitely be on that team_ , he thought.

Rin Matsuoka. To think that he had changed so much since the last time Haruka saw him, near the end of their first year in middle school. Haruka had easily won against Rin that time; after all, they were swimming freestyle, the former’s specialty. But out of grief for seeing Rin’s feelings being hurt to that extent, Haruka never swam competitively again… until Rin returned from Australia and Nagisa suggested that they would re-form the Iwatobi swim club to compete with him. 

Haruka had since lost to Rin twice, once while he, Nagisa, and Makoto broke into the Samezuka swimming pool, and once in the 100-meter freestyle in the prefectural competition. It was to be expected, given that it had been three years since he quit competitive swimming. Then again, he never really cared about his times or competing with anyone. The water just felt right to him; he always felt at home in the water. It washed away his worries and swept away his troubles. It always does.

But not when Rin was around. 

Rin, whose dream was to become an Olympic swimmer - a dream his father never fulfilled - saw Haruka as a benchmark whom he must surpass. It should have been a done deal after the prefectural competition, but Haruka still felt uneasy about it. _What do I swim for? I thought it was obvious._

He picked up the worn-out pamphlet from the time he visited the waterfall with his parents. The trail leading up to the waterfall was still visibly marked by his father. He skimmed through some of the information available: it would only take a little over two hours to reach the park by bus. He gathered a change of clothes, a towel, some snacks, and other necessary things, stuffing it into an empty blue backpack (the yellow one he had was destroyed some time ago). He called his parents, telling them of his intention to revisit the waterfall, but did not bother to call his friends, since he knew that they would be taking the day off from practice anyway. 

The next morning, Haruka woke up just as the first sunlight peeked through his window, leaving streaks of light and shadow on the floor. After getting ready and having his usual mackerel breakfast, he walked towards the nearest bus station. The bus arrived promptly, and before long he found himself at a very familar sight. The park was just as crowded as he remembered, but this time he was a high school student hiking alone. 

The long intervals of bus riding and hiking gave time for him to think about the upcoming competition. He did not want to forfeit, of course; placing in the regional competition would give the swim club a bigger budget, which would be useful towards getting to swim in an indoor pool during the winter. He wanted to swim, after all. 

He also wanted Rin to be on friendly terms with him (as well as Makoto and Nagisa) again. Over the past few months, their relationship has been strained, to say the least. Of course, some of the differences could be attributed to the three-year gap in which they did not see each other, but there must be something that happened to Rin that led to much of the antagonistic feelings that were harbored towards him since returning from Australia. 

Haruka was in front of the waterfall again. It was as beautiful as ever, with clear, sparkling water falling from the top into the river where it flows out serenely. He could not help but to keep his eyes on the majestic sight. Without thinking, he had stripped down to his jammers, stuffed the clothes he had been wearing into his backpack, and leapt into the water. 

The worries that plagued his mind took on a less painful form, though he could not drive them out of his mind completely. _There must be something I could do to make Rin realize that the Olympic dream can’t mean everything._ He swam towards the curtain and let the feeling of the falling water calm him down. _I need to show him a sight he’s never seen before. For that, I need to swim in the relay. I need to swim with my friends, and include Rin in that. That’s what I’m swimming for._

He was sure that things will work out somehow, but as of yet he was not yet sure how things will unfold.


End file.
